Question of who will take over NATO looms as Biden meets alliance's chief
As President Joe Biden prepares to sit down Monday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a personnel issue will be looming: Who will replace the outgoing NATO leader when he departs his post later this year?
2023-06-12 22:49
Rachel Maddow's 'Deja News' podcast a boon to fans who like her historical tangents
Rachel Maddow has something special for fans who appreciate the occasional digressions into history on her weekly MSNBC show
2023-06-12 22:21
9 Curses for Book Thieves From the Middle Ages and Beyond
In the Middle Ages, stealing a book was more like stealing someone’s car today. Now, we have car alarms; then, they had chains, chests … and curses.
2023-06-12 21:54
What to stream this week: 'Extraction 2,' Stan Lee doc, 'Star Trek' and 'The Wonder Years'
This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from John Mellencamp and Killer Mike, season two of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” arrives on Paramount+ and there's a documentary that explores Marvel comic creator Stan Lee’s life and cultural impact
2023-06-12 21:46
Liz Weston: You’ll probably live longer than you think
Longevity literacy is crucial in planning for your retirement, so you don’t run out of money or keep yourself on a needlessly skimpy budget
2023-06-12 21:22
Analysis-After Johnson outburst, UK's Sunak faces tax cut demands from divided party
By Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill LONDON Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will face more pressure from his fractious
2023-06-12 21:20
Suspect in Idaho student killings wants more time to respond to prosecutor's request for alibi
Bryan Kohberger -- charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last year -- is asking a judge for more time to decide whether to offer a formal alibi in the case.
2023-06-12 21:19
Silvio Berlusconi's death leaves 'huge void', allies say
The four-time prime minister bounced back from sex scandals and corruption allegations.
2023-06-12 20:58
North Carolina Republicans censure Sen Thom Tillis for backing LGBT+ rights
Republican delegates in North Carolina voted Saturday at their annual convention to censure Thom Tillis, the state’s senior US senator, for backing LGBT+ rights, immigration and gun violence policies. As Sen Tillis has gained influence in Congress for his willingness to work across the aisle, his record of supporting some key policies has raised concerns among some state Republicans that the senator has strayed from conservative values. Several delegates in Greensboro criticised Mr Tillis, who has held his seat in the Senate since 2015, for his work last year on the Respect For Marriage Act, which enshrined protections for same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law. Both the state and national GOP platforms oppose same-sex marriage. But Mr Tillis, who had opposed it earlier in his political career, was among the early supporters of the law who lobbied his GOP colleagues in Congress to vote in favor of it. Others criticised him for challenging former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and for supporting a measure that provided funds for red flag laws, which allow state courts to authorize the temporary removal of firearms from people who they believe might pose a danger to themselves or others. The North Carolina senator initially opposed Mr Trump’s plan to use military construction dollars to build a wall along the nation’s southern border, but he eventually shifted his position. Tillis spokesperson Daniel Keylin defended the senator’s voting record, writing in an email to The Associated Press that he “keeps his promises and delivers results.” “He will never apologize for his work passing the largest tax cut in history, introducing legislation to secure the border and end sanctuary cities, delivering desperately-needed funding to strengthen school safety and protecting the rights of churches to worship freely based on their belief in traditional marriage,” Mr Keylin said. While the vote Saturday, which took place behind closed doors, cannot remove Mr Tillis from office, supporters said they hope it sends a firm message of dissatisfaction. A two-thirds majority of the state party’s 1,801 voting delegates was needed for the resolution to pass, party spokesperson Jeff Moore said. “We need people who are unwavering in their support for conservative ideals,” said Jim Forster, an 81-year-old delegate from Guilford. “His recent actions don’t reflect the party’s shift to the right — in fact, they’re moving in the exact wrong direction.” Several state legislators, including Sen Bobby Hanig of Currituck County, criticised the decision, saying it’s a bad idea to create more divisions within the party ahead of an election year when party unity will be paramount. “I believe that a mob mentality doesn’t do us any good,” Mr Hanig said. “Senator Tillis does a lot for North Carolina, he does a lot for the coastal communities, so why would I want to make him mad?” State Sen Jim Burgin of Harnett County said the vote to censure Mr Tillis sets a dangerous precedent and does not allow enough flexibility for individual interpretation of party values. Burgin questioned whether his own vote last month for North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban would similarly put him at risk of being censured because it’s out of line with the Republican platform, which states that life begins at conception. “I don’t think we need to be attacking our own,” he said. “You don’t shoot your own elephants.” Read More ‘We’re here to love each other in the face of hatred:’ Colorado Springs celebrates first Pride since Club Q massacre ‘I don’t hold my husband’s hand in the street’: The sobering reality of being a queer parent Biden marks LGBTQ+ Pride Month with White House South Lawn celebration Scott rolls out dozens of South Carolina lawmakers and local leaders endorsing his presidential bid North Carolina Republicans rally around Trump after indictment Trump pledges to endorse Mark Robinson for North Carolina governor
2023-06-12 20:54
Who is Aileen Cannon? The Trump-appointed judge overseeing his classified documents case
A Florida district judge assigned to oversee Donald Trump’s classified documents case is attracting criticism ahead of his court appearance in Miami – given that it was Mr Trump himself who elevated her to the bench three years ago. Unless she chooses to recuse herself, Aileen Cannon, a federal judge with the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, will be placed in charge of the timing and progression of the criminal case as well as rulings on motions brought by the defence and prosecution. If the former president is then convicted, she would also be tasked with handing down a sentence to the very man who nominated her to that position. Mr Trump is charged with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of presidential records, including highly-sensitive national defence information, since his departure from the White House in January 2021. He has so far insisted that he he is “an innocent man” in angry statements and postings to Truth Social, alleging that he is the victim of “rabid wolves” and the “weaponisation” of the justice system by the “corrupt” Joe Biden administration, even as the indictment revealed photos of boxes of files stacked high in the glitzy ballrooms and bathrooms of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Angela Noble, the court’s chief clerk, has insisted that “normal procedures were followed” in assigning Judge Cannon and magistrate judge Bruce Reinhart to the case after their names appeared on Thursday’s summons. However, Judge Cannon has already come under fire for delivering rulings widely considered favourable to Mr Trump over the course of the investigation into the classified documents. After the FBI executed a search warrant in August 2022 to enter Mar-a-Lago and search for classified documents, lawyers for Mr Trump filed a complaint arguing that the search had been illegitimate and unconstitutional. Judge Cannon subsequently issued an order prohibiting the US government from “further review and use of any of the materials” seized from Mar-a-Lago “for criminal investigative purposes”. The ruling attracted concern in legal circles as an unprecedented instance of a federal judge assuming the authority to halt a pre-indictment criminal investigation into a suspect. Her ruling was later reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Judge Cannon also last year sided with Mr Trump’s request that an independent special master be appointed to review the documents before they could be examined by the Justice Department, a decision that was branded “deeply flawed” by Mr Trump’s own former attorney general Bill Barr. After appointing special master Raymond Dearie, Judge Cannon then overruled a number of his procedural proposals and sided with Mr Trump’s attorneys on several key points. The appeals court ruled that Judge Cannon had “improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction” and directed her to stand down from the case. Slate legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern called that decision “one of the most humiliating appellate smackdowns in recent history, a total demolition of literally every action that Cannon had taken from the outset of the case”, also labelling the judge “a venal mediocrity”. He also suggested that the “total lack of principle” and “evident incapacity to experience shame” was likely to prove beneficial to Mr Trump once again this summer. Judge Cannon is of American-Cuban descent and was born in Cali, Colombia, in 1981. She was raised in Miami where she attended the Ransom Everglades School, then Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and then the University of Michigan Law School. She clerked for an appellate judge in Iowa for one year after graduating, then worked for the corporate law firm Gibson Dunn in Washington DC, from 2009 to 2012 and then as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida, based out of Fort Pierce, from 2013 to 2020. Following her nomination by Mr Trump, she was confirmed as a federal judge by the US Senate in November 2020 in the dying days of his one-term administration. Her appointment to the bench came just 12 years after she first qualified to practice law, the minimum experience the American Bar Association requires nominees to have. Judge Cannon is a registered Republican, has been a member of the conservative Federalist Society since 2005 and reportedly donated $100 to Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s gubernatorial election campaign in 2018. Read More Trump news – latest: Trump heads to Miami ahead of arraignment as Bill Barr says ex-president is ‘toast’ Trump’s favourability rises in poll despite indictment Jonathan Turley tells Fox News the Trump indictment is ‘extremely damning’ and a ‘hit below the waterline’ Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement
2023-06-12 20:53
Khloe Kardashian changed son Tatum's last name from Kardashian to Thompson, sources claim
Khloe Kardashian 'took a little while to settle on the name' but eventually zeroed in on Tatum and Robert as the boy's first and middle names
2023-06-12 20:48
La Liga done deals: Every 2023/24 Barcelona & Real Madrid summer transfer
Every Barcelona and Real Madrid transfer as they happen this summer, along with other notable La Liga dealings.
2023-06-12 20:25